MP Kaufman 'abused in synagogue'

Sir Gerald Kaufman has claimed he was verbally attacked at St John's Wood Synagogue on Yom Kippur over his political views.

He made the allegations at a Middle East Monitor and Labour Friends of Palestine fringe meeting at the Labour Conference in Manchester on Sunday.

The Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, who regularly criticises Israel, described himself as a "Zionist" and "bad Orthodox Jew" and said he had been a member of the shul for 49 years.

He claimed he had called the police when two members verbally assaulted him after he attended a service on Yom Kippur. "The Nazis didn't scare the Jews from the synagogue, so the Jews certainly can't scare me," he said.